And then you sit in a chair in the sky.

Does getting a dominatrix who is dressed up like a flight attendant cost more or less than that? I'm asking for a friend.

yes, congrats, you've discovered the difference between a normative discussion and a positive description of the status quo.

Well, one day you'll discover that people can be involuntarily bumped from a flight. Until then!

More in respectable dungeons, at least in Manhattan.

I heard from a friend.

Jesus christ this is like some sort of semantikes bizzaro universe. Neither me nor anyone else in this thread has every claimed that people cannot currently be involuntarily bumped from a flight.

And...the airlines ability do so does not create the "benefits" of overbooking. And so they probably ought not be able to do so. If you agree with all that, maybe we even agree.

(If you tell me to just guess how you're defining terms, you can't complain about that.)

Why Airlines Can Get Away With Bad Customer Service

https://www.theatlantic.com/business...ervice/523011/

Since it appears that airlines - if not business in general - has declared war against their most "undesirable" customers, I don't see why we consumers can't fight back by trying to make life miserable for all those overpaid CEOs and corporate Vice Presidents. Why can't we start by introducing real competition to flying? Uber and Lyft are the antidote to the traditional [overpriced] taxi cab business. I notice there are quite a number of "General Aviation" pilots who enjoy flying their Cessna and Piper Cub airplanes out of small [local] grass runway "airports" that don't even have a tower! Surely some of these folks can be persuaded to fly you across the country (and back) while they get in their required flight time in order to qualify for the next higher rating. (I understand that an outfit called "NetJets" already offers some type of similar service.)

Why can't a Travis Kalanick type emerge - an enterprising businessman determined to do to the airlines what Uber and Lyft are doing to the taxi industry? I would think that for one way "short hop" trips - like say from Chicago to Louisville or Birmingham to Nashville - a full out assault against the airlines might work. Passengers would probably have to pay more - maybe even double - what they would pay to fly commercial, but think of the time savings they would reap from not having to report to the airport two hours before their flight and all the other hassles (like airport screening) they wouldn't have to put up with. Just from the perspective of saved time and avoiding hassles, it would be appealing to contract with a GA pilot to fly you somewhere in lieu of United, AA or Southwest. (I would certainly be willing to pay $200.00 for a flight on a GA plane that one of the airlines would be charging $100.00 for, but that's only because I'm willing to pay more in order to shove it up the airline CEO's a**.)

I suppose that's the real problem with capitalism and free enterprise - inevitably the competition disappears. All the "Mom and Pop" stores get put out of business by Wal Mart. All the retailers get put out of business by Amazon. Once a "competitor" becomes a monopoly, they immediately begin treating their customers like crap. The only solution I know to the status quo is to simply refuse to do business with companies that treat their customers like dirt. Try finding a GA pilot who will agree to fly you across your state - or across the country - and see how arrogant the airlines remain once they begin losing a substantial percentage of their "economy" passengers.

Personally, I would love to see the major airlines take a nosedive (Ha! Ha!) but that's only because I love seeing CEOs get fired. It restores my faith in free enterprise when you [occasionally] see an imperious CEO - like Wells-Fargo's [former CEO] John Stumpf - forced to resign because of egregious business practices. Corporate arrogance and willful customer abuse comes from the top - it's the people at the top whose heads should roll. Consumers have to fight back and make the CEO's life miserable. It's the only real "weapon" we have in the war between buyers and sellers.

I'm 90% sure most GA pilot licenses don't allow carrying passengers for hire

Rules never stopped Uber.

I heard (CNN) that Dao's lawyer has done well for his personal injury clients. He's the guy that got $1B from the NHL and NFL in a class action on concussions. United's lawyers are gonna get posterized.



https://twitter.com/bmaz/status/853818124289794049

Private GA flying is 1000x more dangerous than airline flying. It's akin to riding on the back of a random motorcycle

+1 to this doctor is Rosa Parks

These two don't have a leg to stand on. The wouldn't follow the crew's instructions, not sure how during boarding a guy would end up sleeping across all 3 seats in a row. He's the hero of the story.

The judge rejected that settlement because it was too low. You have to **** up pretty badly to get a settlement rejected.

An alternative does exist to the bad customer service it's called Jet Blue and Virgin, but they aren't at every airport for whatever reason.



Louis CK's whole "chair in sky" bit is bull**** anyways cause Louis flys first class without a doubt.

Delta is much better than united. You can fly delta, southwest, Alaska, blue and virgin pretty much anywhere

In one of my favorite movies, The Verdict, Paul Newman plays an alcoholic lawyer who gets his **** together to win a big case for his client. At the end, the jury rejects the judgement he had asked for and awards a larger amount. Now I learn Newman's character ****ed up. Man, it's like there's no redemption even in the movies.

Yes, United is the nut low. I've refused to fly with them since 1999.

And Delta comfort plus is pretty nice, it's not 30 bucks more but that's the market price for a comfortable seat. Plenty of legroom, beer included, etc. It's not that the airlines won't offer, it's that people won't pay for service

People are getting exactly what the market wants with their airline service. A race to the bottom on costs. I am somewhat selective based on the airline and service but >90% of the people I know only look at price. I also get asked all the time by my friends what I paid for my flights and they're sooo proud of getting a dirt cheap flight on Spirit or RyanAir, I just don't get it

If you're regularly paying $500+ for a domestic ticket, you're treating your finances like absolute crap.

Spirit doesn't make pretenses of customer service... I admire that.

JetBlue and Southwest started off as discount but still service airlines but honestly they aren't that different from United/Delta/AA nowadays.

I'm questioning my Mike Rowe fanboy status after this: http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/04...ht-not-expect/

Name one plank of this argument that wouldn't apply to Rosa Parks.

The doctor wasn't removed from the plane for any of the reasons listed though. My sister worked in the airline industry for a long time and has no end of passengers are *******s stories and the airlines should be able to deal with them as they see fit, the problems start when the airlines start making even more arbitrary decisions to **** with passengers.

This will settle for millions. A trial would be an epic disaster for United. Witnesses would testify to the horror and would be crying. Who at United going to put up as their defense? A lawyer reading section of a contract.

The question is when do you settle? It will be confidential but my guess is $10 million and his lawyer gets $2 million.

There is no reason to drag this out for other side. Just write a check with mutual release and move on.

that would be even more of a disaster, legally speaking, since the conditions underwhich overbooking is defined in the contract weren't even met.